Sunday, 17 June 2012

Coffee streusel layer cake

Today is Father’s Day and the CCD’s (Caked Crusader’s Da)
favourite cake flavour is coffee. That
made the selection of this cake extremely easy – and yet another celebration
cake I wouldn’t be eating. Let’s just
say coffee’s not my thing.

What sets this apart from other coffee cakes I have made is
that the sponge itself contains no coffee.
However, baked into and onto the sponge is a streusel containing instant
coffee granules thus packing a real wallop (technical term) of flavour along
with texture. I had my doubts as to
whether this would provide enough flavour...until I made the streusel and
sniffed it; it smelled like a coffee shop where they grind their own beans (a
horrible or lovely smell, depending on your tastes).

A generous drizzle of coffee icing adds further oomph
(enough of the technical language I hear you cry!) and looks rather pretty. In order to test that the icing was smooth
and ready to use I tasted a bit...and can vouch that it had a very, very strong
flavour...shudder.

I selected this recipe as the cake keeps for several days in
an airtight tin; this meant the CCD could take home some slices and enjoy them
throughout the week. Let’s face it, when
you tot up all the things our dad’s do for us, they deserve more than one day of
celebration!

Start by making the streusel: Place all the ingredients in a
bowl and stir together. At first it will
seem like there isn’t enough butter to bind the dry ingredients, but keep
stirring and it will become moist and clump into a texture like wet sand.

Put to one side while you make the cake.

Beat together the butter and sugar until pale and
whippy. Don’t skimp on this stage as
this is where the air gets into the sponge.

Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding a little of the flour
if it starts to curdle.

Fold in the flour and the milk.

Spoon half the cake batter into the prepared tin and level
the surface.

Sprinkle half the streusel mix over the cake in an even
layer.

Spoon the remaining cake batter over the streusel and spread
it out, taking care not to disturb the streusel.

Sprinkle the remaining streusel over the top.

Bake for 1-1 ½ hours or until a skewer inserted into the
cake comes out clean.

Place on a wire rack to cool and, when safe enough to
handle, remove the cake from the tin and leave to cool completely.

When the cake is cool, make the icing: dissolve the coffee
in the boiling water and leave to cool.

When cool beat into the icing sugar to make a thick, glossy
icing, adding more water if necessary.

A very appealing smell in my case (but only developed when I started doing night shifts and caffeine became an absolute essential!). I'm sure CCD was super chuffed with this cracker of a cake- a brilliant Father's Day treat!

Coffee cake is one of my favourites even though I find it revolting to drink, and this looks like a lovely alternative to the usual coffee and walnut cake. I'm sure the CCD will be enjoying it for days!

Second, the icing looks a bit like caramel. Would it work, do you think, to make this a caramel-y coffee cake? I have anti-coffee people in my life and I'd hate to exclude them when I attempt this GLORIOUS CAKE!!!

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About Me

So, the answer to the question you’re all asking: who am I? Well, a superhero never reveals their identity. I think it’s stated somewhere in the contract when you sign up for superhero-dom. Let’s just call me THE CAKED CRUSADER. By day (and night if I’m being honest) a mild-mannered City professional, but at weekends I become THE CAKED CRUSADER. Tirelessly fighting anti-cake propaganda and cake-related injustices – for SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE, ALWAYS NEEDS CAKE (we’ll just skip over the fact that it’s usually me).

Batman’s got the batmobile, batcave etc. Superman does just great what with being able to fly and being really strong. Spiderman’s got that web thing going on. But I have better than them. For I have a credit card and could get one of these:

The purpose of my blog is simple – to spread the word that CAKE IS GOOD.Yes, it is calorific; that is why it tastes so nice.Yes, too much of it is bad for you; that’s what ‘too much’ means.Yes, we’re all told to eat healthily and we know that we should. But ask yourself this – and look very deeply into your soul before answering – when has a cup of tea and a carrot ever cheered you up? However, put that carrot into a cake and happiness will ensue. Quod erat demonstrandum – CAKE IS GOOD.

This site will catalogue cakes I have unleashed unto the world and my thoughts thereon.

By the way, I will never recommend how many portions you should get out of a cake because we’re all different. Plus, it will be very embarrassing when I say it serves 4 and you get 20 portions out of it.

WARNING: Too much time spent on this blog may cause hunger.

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About Me

I am a 40-something Chartered Accountant working in the square mile.
My main hobbies at the moment are baking, and setting the world record for the number of cake tins owned by one person.
I spend far too much time watching Spongebob Squarepants and would love to try a Krabby Patty...I know, I know - it's not real.